Of course with Eddie Butler an official outsider in the BNP camp, it was only a matter of time before the Party Leadership purged the Eastern region of its dissident forces. The above "before and after" shots show the number of reps reduced by 2/3rds with both the Bedfordshire (Jim Smith) and Luton and South Beds camps not represented. The Herts and Milton Keynes groups, represented by Danny Seabrook and Kieran Trent respectively, have remained loyal to Griffin. Broxbourne powerhouse Steve McCole was absent though as well as the Three Rivers councillors and Markyate independent Simon Deacon. Peter Fehr in Luton is also in the Butler camp as well as Leighton Buzzard's Shelley Rose - who would blame the poor girl. Robin Johnstone from Bedford appears disillusioned about the whole affair and sits on the fence, disappointed that old friends have fallen out.

Here's the report from the BNP website, for what it's worth :

"Long serving British National Party councillor Pat Richardson has been appointed the Eastern Region’s new membership secretary as part of a major overhaul of party’s local organisation, reports regional organiser Paul Morris.

Speaking after what he described as a “massively successful” Eastern Regional Council meeting, Mr Morris said Cllr Richardson’s appointment was one of many made at the gathering.

Cllr Richardson will now be responsible for making sure the branches are kept up to date with all the relevant enquiry information that future campaigns bring in.

“The regional executive decided exactly how we are going to proceed with local and regional issues and the growth of the British National Party in the region as a whole,” Mr Morris said.

“There were some new faces round the table at this meeting, including Cllrs Richardson and Rod Law, who attended for the first time in their capacities as new councillor representatives,” he said.

“In addition, a new regional press officer, Kieren Trent, was appointed. He produced a fresh set of ideas on how to promote the region and local branches.

“The success of the ‘bring our troops home’ campaign has shown to many activists that the public are behind us on key British National Party policies and issues,” Mr Morris continued.

“It has highlighted that it’s up to us to get out there and tell the public exactly what the BNP are about not what the lying media tell them.

“The region is facing change in many areas, such as housing and jobs, about which the public has not been consulted or made aware of. We intend to address these issues with maximum effect.

Delegates were also nominated to attend the intensive election training which is currently being rolled out across all sectors of the party."